Whale watching ranks among Cape Ann's most popular water-related attractions. The Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce estimates that 100,000 people will ride out from Gloucester and Rockport to look at whales on Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary this summer.

With a number of whale watch companies operating two trips a day, visitors to Cape Ann should have ample opportunity to view the plentiful, majestic humpback, minke, fin and other whale species.

Most of the time, the Cape Ann charter boat operations take visitors out to Stellwagen - an undersea plateau about 15 miles southeast of Cape Ann and the whales' favorite feeding ground. Local whale research groups place naturalists on board commercial whale-watch boats, both to continue research and to educate those on board.

Every spring humpbacks migrate from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic in search of food. When they get to Stellwagen Bank, it's chow time. Big time.

When naturalists say whales eat a ton of food, they mean it. The huge creatures eat that amount of sand lance - a short, eel-like fish - just to maintain their 30-ton weight.

So who has shown up this year? There are annual visitors - a whale couple believed to be more than 20 years old - and others identified for the first time.

Some of the whales that arrive in the early spring are just passing through the area.

Half-day and all-day fishing trips are offered by several Cape Ann boat skippers, taking anglers out to fish for cod, haddock and flounder.

Several skippers are offering bluefishing trips, and some have night trips.

Gloucester is the oldest fishing port in the country, and after 375 years, its harbor is still dominated by the fishing industry.

There are hour-long sightseeing tours around the harbor, seven days a week during the summer.

The boat tours depart from Rose's Wharf or Seven Seas Wharf, and longer cruises carry passengers up the Annisquam River and around the Cape.

In addition, the 65-foot schooner Thomas E. Lannon makes twice-daily voyages, taking passengers for sailing cruises from Seven Seas Wharf off Rogers Street to Gloucester's Outer Harbor.